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Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson said Friday it has been difficult to get any information about the arrest in China of girlfriend Wanting Qu’s mother.

Qu Zhang Mingjie is in detention as part of an investigation into the sale of state properties below market value for personal profit, according to mainland Chinese media sources Phoenix TV and China Daily. She was detained in early fall, but it’s hard to say exactly why, said Robertson.

“It remains a mystery,” he told reporters after a Friday meeting of Metro Vancouver mayors. “It’s been many months with no information. It’s very tough.”

Robertson said the issue is very difficult and personal for Qu.

“I can’t say much more because I have very little information. There’s no information available because she’s being held,” he said.

Qu could not be reached for an interview on the arrest of her mother, but she expressed sadness on social media Friday afternoon.

“I love my mom dearly and I am truly heartbroken. This ordeal is very stressful and I find myself in crying over it daily. I appreciate the love and support from my friends, my fans and my family. I will use your strength to get through these tough times,” she said on Facebook.

Earlier, Qu posted on Twitter a black and white childhood photo of herself with her mother.

“Dream is the only place I get to see her. I miss her,” read the tweet.

Qu Zhang Mingjie, an official in the city of Harbin in northern China, was arrested on corruption allegations after an investigation that began last year, according to Chinese media. She was also ousted as director of the city’s urban development infrastructure division in November.

China has cracked down on corrupt officials and former officials domestically and abroad, including Canada, since President Xi Jinping assumed power in 2013. In his first speech Xi vowed to fight for “the great renaissance of the Chinese nation,” and that included cleaning up a Communist party he believed was plagued with corruption.

“Predecessors have used similarly strong language, but Mr. Xi appears to be taking the problem far more seriously,” the Economist magazine reported last month.

Two anti-graft campaigns, first Operation Fox Hunt and then in March Operation Sky-Net, struck fear into the hearts of corrupt bureaucrats in China and around the world, according to the Economist.

In just 28 months, 69 ministerial-level officials were detained, more than double the total in five years under predecessor Hu Jintao.

And the rate of arrests is expected to rise.

“Those detained are pressed — and sometimes tortured — into confessing and giving up more names in a secretive, extra legal system known as shuanggui,” the magazine reported. Dozens of generals and numerous former aides to party elders, all the sorts of people usually spared such treatment in the past, have been caught in the dragnet.”

China’s release this week of the names of its top 100 fugitives, including 26 in Canada, may have been more of a “public relations” stunt given the difficulty the country has in bringing back alleged criminals to face the country’s harsh justice system, the University of Hong Kong’s Michael Davis told the South China Morning Post.

Gordon Houlden, the head of the University of Alberta’s China Institute, told The Sun there is “deep public concern and even anger about corrupt officials” in China.

Anti-corruption campaigns have at times been used by Chinese officials to destabilize political rivals, but that may not be the case this time around, he said.

The duration and scope of the campaign has “convinced me that the larger driver of the ambitious anti-corruption campaign is a sustained effort by Xi Jinping to tackle rot within both the Party and Government,” he said by email from Beijing.

“While there have been more arrests of officials further down the hierarchy than those near the top, the ongoing media focus on the anti-corruption campaign, and the media attention to specific arrests is noteworthy.”

Qu was born in Harbin but has lived and worked in Vancouver since at least the age of 16, according to Tourism Vancouver. The singer-songwriter is managed by Vancouver-based Nettwork and has a massive following in Malaysia and China.

Robertson separated from his wife Amy Robertson last July and has dated Qu for several few months. The social media-savvy singer regularly posts photos of the pair together, and the mayor does likewise on Weibo — a popular Chinese social media site.

Qu was contracted as an official ambassador in Mainland China for Tourism Vancouver from early 2013 to mid-2014, according Amber Sessions, a spokeswoman for the tourism association. Robertson and Qu worked together in 2013 during a delegation to China.

Qu’s relationship with her mother is “disharmonious,” according to various reports by Chinese media that suggest Qu Zhang Mingjie did not approve of her daughter’s choice to pursue music.

But in a 2013 interview with The Vancouver Sun, Qu said her mother noticed her interest in music at an early age and bought her a piano for her sixth birthday.

The singer has addressed their relationship publicly on her various social media accounts, including an April 16 Facebook post ostensibly made on her mother’s birthday.

“I want nothing but love, health and happiness for her. She’s my mother ... Despite our differences, we share the same blood. I must admit I feel regretful for not being in her life for the past 15 years. I also feel somewhat resentful towards her for not being in mine since I was a teen. But over the years, she’s forgiven me because she’s found pride and joy in my success in life,” it read.

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Tough to get information on arrest of Wanting Qu's mother: mayor

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